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The Gardenia Butterscotch Bread Saga

The colourful packaging is the Gardenia butterscotch bread from Kuala Lumpur, the other one shows a packaging from Sabah but was told that this is made in Brunei and test marketed using the Sabah packaging

Two years ago, my brother gave us a loaf of bread on his return from a meeting in Kuala Lumpur. My son ate it and said it was one of the most delicious he had eaten. It was the Gardenia Butterscotch bread. So, when I attended a meeting in Kuala Lumpur last year, buying this bread was a must. I found that people in Brunei had been buying this by the boxloads and bringing them back to Brunei.

In December 2015, when my family and I were on holiday in Sabah, we asked our Sabah guide whether this bread was available. He had families in KL and traveled to and fro, told us that even travelers from Sabah bought these and brought them back from KLIA. Gardenia had a large table at KLIA and travelers buy them by the dozen.

Sometime last week, I saw someone posted that this bread is now being sold in Brunei. I told my wife and so for the last couple of weeks, my wife and I had been frequenting quite a number of Indian run grocery stores and finally we found one shop selling the bread for B$3.80 each with the Brunei Halal logo. It was a different packaging (it stated that it was made by Gardenia in Tuaran Sabah) but tasted quite similar. So I posted this on my fb and got quite a number of responses including where else to buy them.

It turned out that the loaf from Gardenia KL was sold widely in cubes for around B$5 each (it cost M$4) for quite a while. But the most important information we got was that one Chinese grocery store along Jalan Mulaut has new supplies daily from KL and is selling them for around B$4.50 each. But not only that, when we went there, we were told that they also brought in other flavours and not just Butterscotch. Last night they had raspberry and choco raisins flavours.

We also found out that the other packaging which purportedly come from Gardenia Sabah is not from Sabah. It was made in Brunei and currently test marketed using the Sabah packaging. When we checked the ingredients, the one from KL had about twice the number of items on the ingredient list. My son who tasted it said that the KL one had more butterscotch taste. One fb comment was that the Brunei one was drier. Admittedly I found the KL one more moist.

Whichever it is, the most important fact is that the Gardenia butterscotch bread loaf is well and truly available here in Brunei.

PS.
Butterscotch refers to any confectionery item using butter and brown sugar.

DESPITE first making its appearance in the Sultanate during the 1940s, Kuih Mor continues to be a household favourite today as a tea time snack or festive treat particularly during Hari Raya Aidil Fitri.

Siti Norhafizah Hj Bagol, a final year student at Universiti Brunei Darussalam who researched on Kuih Mor as part of her Brunei Traditional Industry module, said the three-ingredient sweet treat may have existed in Brunei as early as the 1940s when padi was known to have been grown to make different food items.

Over time, the cookie has also become a popular door-gift choice often handed out at Malay weddings or gatherings, said Siti Norhafizah.

Made with flour, oil and granulated sugar which have been ground into a powder, the bite-sized biscuits have a crumbly texture and are coated with powdered sugar.

The age-old technique of making Kuih Mor by hand has however changed over the course of time, with many now opt…

BY COMMAND of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, the Prime Minister’s Office hereby announces that His Majesty has consented to the transfer and appointment of the following senior officers – Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Juanda bin Haji Abdul Rashid, Permanent Secretary (Law and Welfare) at the Prime Minister’s Office as well as the Director of Anti-Corruption Bureau and Solicitor General has been transferred to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports as the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports; and Datin Elinda binti Haji CA Mohamed, Special Senior Duties Officer, Ministry of Home Affairs has been appointed as Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office and Director of Anti-Corruption Bureau.